Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



T. RESTELL. Breach-Loading Fire-Arms.

Patented May 20,1873.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIGE.

TOMAS RESTELL, OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 139,190, dated May 20, 1873 application filed September 30, 1871.

To all whom lt may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS REsTELL, of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, England, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Breech-Loading Fire-Arms, of which the following is a specification:

This :invention relates to certain improvements in breech-loading lire-arms, in which a drop block or blocks, or a block moving to one side, is used; and the invention consists ot' a lever carrying a plate capable of sliding, a notch on the stem of the striker, and a trigger provided with a hooked end, whereby, when the lever and plate are drawn back to open the breech for the; insertion of the load or cartridge, the hooked end of the trigger will enter the notch in the stem of the striker andretain the same back until the trigger is pulled, which releases the striker, and a spring impels the same forward and explodes the cartridge.

In the drawing, Figure l is asection'al view of a gun in which a drop-block is employed provided with my improvements 5 Fig. 2, a transverse section thereof; Fig. 3, a side view of gun in which the block moves sidewise provided with my improvements; and Fig. 4, a top or plan view of the same.

ln the drawing, the letter a. represents a lever, which carries at one end a plate, b. The plate b is connected to the stem cl of the striker e, so that it can be drawn back to cock it by the lever a. The back of the striker is acted on by a spring, f, which finds an abutment against an arm, g, of the trigger h. The striker is provided with a notch, l, for the hooked end j of the trigger h to enter into, and to allow for alittle play for the striker to move to the front by the action of the spring f, to enable the plate b to lock the block c, which it accomplishes by entering a recess form ed in the lump under the barrel. The trigger h is pivoted in the block c, and its nger-pull rises into the stock m when the breech is opened, and the block is retained in a true position in its downward movement by a plate, a. By this arrangement, when the lever a is drawn backward the plate b, by its connection with the striker, will draw back the same, and, as the plate b will have been withdrawn from its locking-recess, the block c will fall, and the hooked end j ofthe trigger will enter the notch l of the striker and retain the same back, and thus the gun will be cocked. After charging the gun and pushing the breech-block home, by pulling the trigger its hooked end will be disengaged from the notch t', and the spring f will impel the striker forward and explode the charge.

ln Figs. 3 and 4t I have shown guns in which the breech-block c moves to the side; but this does not alter the spirit of my invention, the only diiferenee being, that in this case the lever a and the sliding plate b are arranged at the side of the gun, instead of beneath the same. f

Guns made as above described are unusually safe, as they cannot be discharged until the breech-block is quite home, because the plate b, being in a piece as it were with the strikerpin e, must enter its locking-aperture to permit of the striker acting upon the cartridge.

`What I claim as my invention is The lever a carrying the plate b, the notched stem el of the striker e, and the trigger h, with its hooked end j, combined as shown, and operating substantially as set forth.

THOMAS RESTELL.

Witnesses:

H. G. GARDNER, E. M. DANIEL,

166 Fleet street, Loudon. 

